


Wings of Change

by I_am_Eli



Series: Wings of Change [1]
Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:29:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22742536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_am_Eli/pseuds/I_am_Eli
Summary: A few simple changes have big consequences. Especially in regards to the dragonets of destiny.
Relationships: Asha/Hvitur, Starflight/Sunny (Wings of Fire)
Series: Wings of Change [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1635241
Comments: 20
Kudos: 14





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> AN: This story was written by CrystalCosmo, who is posting this on Wattpad, and I_am_Jude, Who is posting this on A03. 
> 
> All hail Tui, bringer of dragons.

The cliffs were silent, and a sleek pale-silver head peaked out from behind a rock, carrying a red, glowing egg in their claws. The egg was hatching far too early. The light of three moons could give him away if not his silver scales or the red glowing egg in his claws.

He hurried to the cliffside when suddenly he heard the thud of another dragon landing. He turned, clutching the egg to his chest, his light blue eyes winding as the moons cast the silhouette of a Sandwing guard landing nearby. He hadn’t been seen. Yet.

He pressed against the ground, hiding the egg from sight and charging his frost-breath. The guard turned suddenly, spotting a glimmer of sparkling white scales. Then, the two dragons wordlessly lunged at each other, the Skywing egg laying precariously near the cliffside. 

The Icewing started to blast their frost-breath at the Sandwing’s tail, getting rid of its most dangerous weapon, then, he felt claws digging across his face and to his shoulder, and he pulled away, wincing as he felt blood drip from the new wound. 

The soldier lunged again, the Icewing leaping to protect the egg and leap off the cliff. As the Skywing egg and Icewing both began to fall down the cliff claws ripped into the Icewings wing, sending him twirling and off balance, to what most dragons would call an early grave.

The soldier turned, walking away, proud of his work. Unknowing that the Icewing was pushing themselves up after barely surviving the fall, clutching a fragile egg to their chest.

“Hvitur!” a fretful voice called. Asha. She had barely survived the run in with a scuffle between armies, but fortunately they had managed to save her life. Hvitur shook slightly.

“Bring..the eggs outside.” he said, stumbling over his words, his mouth dry as parchment.

“Why?” Asha asked, tilting her head to the side and stumbling out to get a better look at the Icewing. 

She gasps slightly “Hvitur! Your wings-they’re-“ Hvitur repeated his statement again.

“Bring the eggs out here. I won’t be able to make it in-I think my hind legs are both broken, I can hardly feel them. You’ll need me to make sure the hatching goes okay.”

Asha nodded, hurrying back inside, soon returning with Webs. Asha was clutching the Sandwing and Mudwing egg, Webs carrying the Seawing and Nightwing egg, along with the Rainwing egg he had stumbled upon on his way back from the Sea Kingdom. He says he couldn’t just leave it there to die, and decided to bring it along. Kestrel had decided the Rainwing would be Webs’s responsibility for his ‘stupid actions’.

The eggs were laid down in a circle, Hvitur pushing himself over to the other guardians, not bothering to try and stand up. Then, the large blood-red egg shook, and a large, square face pushed itself out if the egg. It was covered with orange and red scales, a sharp contrast to the muddy browns of Asha’s scales. The Mudwing clawed out of the shell which toppled over, the Mudwing landing face-first into the wet clay from the recent rain. “I guess we have a name for this one.” Asha laughed, nudging the fire-coloured Mudwing. “Clay.”

Hvitur smiled at that name. “Fits him.” Then, the deep blue, slightly-translucent egg that held the supposed heir to the throne of the Seawings toppled over, and a dark blue and purple blob tumbled out. Webs laughed as the Seawing raised her tiny head and looked around curiously. Upon seeing her caretakers, she decided to try and attack them, batting them with soft talons.

Webs chuckled as he nudged the Seawing over to Asha. “Queen Coral was right. Tsunami fits you, little one.” Before they had some much time to breathe, the Sandwing and Nightwing eggs began hatching at the same time. Then, two black claws burst out of the eggs in unison and two tumbling dragons soon followed. The Nightwing looked up with an odd sense of intelligence for a newborn and headed over to the group...being followed by a Sandwing with scattered black scales.

“Sunny might need a new name” Asha said jokingly. “How about Dusky..heh..” Webs rolled their eyes and looked back to the remaining eggs. The Rainwing and Skywing were both hatching. Glory and Peril. Two oddly ironic names for Dragonets of Destiny. Then, a light blue face poked out of the color-changing Rainwing egg and was soon followed by a sea of blue shades. The Rainwing could pass as a Seawing if it so wished. Then the Skywing hatched, stumbling out of the egg uneasily. Webs paused. Something was off about it. Rather than follow the other dragonets’ lead in stumbling around on new legs and exploring, the Skywing was staring straight ahead into space. Its eyes were the colour of milk.

“The Skywing is blind?!” Asha and Hvitur shouted in shock. 

“This will not be good for the prophecy,” Kestrel said.

“Well, what are we supposed to do? Kill it?” Webs asked angrily.

“Yes,” Kestrel said simply.

“No!” Asha shouted. “She’s still part of the prophecy! I’ll watch over her. I’ll teach her everything she needs to know.”

“How will she fight? How will she read? Do you really think anyone is going to take a crippled dragon seriously?” Kestrel asked angrily. Dune shot her a dirty look.

“Who says you can’t respect a crippled dragonet?” the Sandwing asked with a snarl.  
“You know what I mean Dune. This dragonet will never be able to do anything for itself. It would be cruel not to do away with it.”

“I will help Asha raise the dragonet. As a fellow… ‘cripple’, perhaps I will be able to help in its combat training,” Dune said.

“As will I,” Hvitur said. “The dragonet will have the same training as the others. Peril will grow to be just as powerful, if not more, as the other dragonets of destiny.”

“The Talons will not be happy about this,” Kestrel said. “Nor will Morrowseer.”

“If they want the prophecy to be complete, they don’t have much choice in the matter,” Dune said.

“And what of the Rainwing?” Kestrel asked.

“What about her?” Webs asked.

“Oh, please,” Kestrel said. “You can’t really expect a lazy Rainwing to be raised among the dragonets of destiny.”

“I couldn’t just leave her to die,” Webs said. “She could be a valuable asset one day. One never knows. But for now, I shall raise her as my own.”

“This is simply ridiculous!” Kestrel shouted. “Give me the Rainwing! I will do away with it if you are too cowardly to do what must be done!” 

Webs stood in a defensive stance in front of the newborn Rainwing, who was blinking owlishly at everything around her, changing colours to match Clay’s fiery red scales, the black matte of Starflight’s wings, or the varying shades of azure and swirling light of Tsunami. Kestrel starts to crouch down to pounce at the elder dragon when she feels a sharp pain in her leg. Looking down, she sees Clay, his tiny teeth dragging under her scales and sinking into her flesh. Kestrel roars in pain and tries to shake him off, but this only seems to make him sink his pointy teeth in deeper. Kestrel finally results to breathing a quick blast of fire at the stocky dragonet, who lets go of her immediately and sniffles in pain, licking at a burn that spread across his chest and belly. 

Clay lets out a despairing screech and tears leaked from his eyes, dripping down into the admittedly minor burn that had partially melted through the soft scales adorning his underbelly, blooming to just below his throat like a flower.

“Kestrel!” Asha shouted in outrage. “What in the three moons were you thinking? He’s only a dragonet!”

“I thought you said Mudwings born of blood-red eggs were resistant to fire! I was only trying to scare him so he would let go of my leg!” Kestrel shouted back.

“He’s newly-hatched, Kestrel. It would have to take several days, if not weeks for him to build up a resistance to fire. These things take time!” Kestrel looks slightly guilty, but it’s quickly covered by a mask of self-righteousness.

“He was getting in the way of me and the Rainwing. He’s lucky I haven’t done worse!” 

“Why can’t you just leave the Rainwing alone? She has done nothing to justify the treatment you give her!” Webs said.

“It’s either I snap her neck right now or you let the Talons take care of her. Your choice.” Webs shivered involuntarily at the thought of the Talons getting their claws on the small Rainwing. 

“Then we hide her. We train her in secret. She could fight alongside the other dragonets. But we can’t just let a dragonet die.” Kestrel gave him a glare that could kill twenty dragons, but Webs stood his ground, looking back into her eyes stubbornly.

“You feel so strongly about the Rainwing? FIne. You raise it. Train it alongside the cripple. I don’t care. Let the dragonets of destiny have two inferior dragons. But when the Talons come- and they will come- and ask you what you were thinking when you let in a lazy Rainwing and a blind Skywing, I will not be held responsible.”

“That’s fine by me, Kestrel,” Webs said. “Fine by me.” Kestrel huffed and walked away.

“I will return,” she said before shooting several feet into the air with one powerful flap of her wings.

“Is the Mudwing alright?” Webs asked.

“I think the mud will sooth the burn, but he will have a scar for the rest of his life,” Asha said. She was massaging a glob of mud into Clay’s sensitive scales, Clay preening under the attention of the older Mudwing. When Asha stopped, he nuzzled under her wing and fell asleep at her side, snoring loudly. “Are you alright, Hvitur?” Asha asked the Icewing.

“I-I’m not sure. I- I can’t feel my hind legs, but they don’t a-appear to be broken. My wings are… worrying, though.” He shrugged helplessly.

Dune stung him with his tail, not letting the stinger go in farther than his skin and only letting out enough poison to feel similar to a bee sting.

“Did you feel that?” Dune asked gruffly.

“Feel what?” Hvitur asked. 

“Hvitur...” Asha said. “Can you try moving your tail? Or your back leg?” Hvitur tried, but his tail and hind legs remained still, lying behind him lifelessly, like a dead weight. Asha moved toward her longtime friend, leaving Clay where he was, still fast asleep, and examined his back. His spine, visible through a thick layer of scales and flesh, was curved as a question mark. Asha felt sick to her stomach. “Perhaps if we set his spine back into place?” Asha suggested weakly.

“It would be painful. And it might do more harm than good,” Dune said. “But it’s our best shot.” Dune held Hvitur’s head low to the ground and kept his front legs pinned, Webs doing the same for his wings, conscious of the slash marks running through the flesh, like torn paper. Asha braced her front legs on either side of the Icewing’s spine. 

“I’m sorry, Hvitur,” she said sincerely. 

“It’s alright, Ash. Just… please get it over with quickly,” the Icewing replied. Asha nodded, and in one quick, jerking movement, straightened the Icewing’s spine back into a straight line. Hvitur roared in pain. 

“Can you try and move, now?” Asha asked.

“A… A little, but...”

“Looks like little Peril has another cripple to help raise her, then,” Dune said. The dragonet in question was still staring blankly, though her ears were turned toward the guardians, obviously listening to their conversation in interest.

They hear wing-beats ahead, followed occasionally by a loud hissing sound; a dragon shooting fire. 

“The Skywing patrols,” Webs said.

“I suppose it’s time to take the dragonets inside, then...” Asha said. Each dragon grabbed two dragonets, Hvitur limping terribly and having to stop every so often, and carried them to the cave. Clay stared at the adult dragons as they closed off the entrance of the cave and, somehow, despite being barely an hour old, knew he wasn’t going to see the outside world again for a long, long time.


	2. Two Years Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it!

“Glory! Glory?! Come out, you sneaky little thing!” Webs shouted, his voice echoing off of the cold stone of the cave. “Glory?” he called, quieter this time. Suddenly, the tiny dragonet seemed to melt into existence right before his eyes, her scales changing from that of gray, damp stone to warring hues of bright blue and deepest green. “Where have you been all day?” Webs asked the small dragonet.

“Climbing,” Glory replied simply. “The others were doing combat training, but Kestrel doesn’t like me much, so I decided to climb the ceiling.” Webs sighed. Glory was going to be the death of him.

“You know if Kestrel doesn’t give you proper training you’re supposed to come to me,” he said. “You don’t want to fall behind.”

“I’m not falling behind! Starflight and Peril teach me everything!” Webs imagines the two shrimpy dragonets trying to teach Glory how to fight and has to suppress a snort. Both dragonets were very intelligent, but their fighting skills left much to be desired. Peril, of course, can’t help falling behind, but with Starflight it was more over his fear of getting hurt. Which was going to be a huge set-back for the Nightwing later on.

“I’m sure they’re very good teachers, but you might want to go to someone else if you wish to learn to defend yourself, Glory. Perhaps Tsunami and Clay, if you really don’t want to be taught by your favorite guardian?” he asked teasingly. Webs tended to put on a cold exterior but whenever he was around Glory, he couldn’t help but be more cheerful. She reminded him too much of his son, he decided. 

“Clay doesn’t like fighting, and Tsunami’s too bossy,” Glory complained. 

“Tsunami is bossy? Whatever do you mean?” Webs asked sarcastically. The small Seawing was like a miniature Coral, and she was barely two years old. She tried to boss Webs around on a regular basis. She had tried to boss Dune around once, and had gotten a stinger to her side for her troubles. She never tried to be cruel to Hvitur or Asha, who were like parents to her despite them not being around a lot, Asha always being on missions for the Talons and Hvitur always suffering from phantom pains and holed up in his sleeping cave. Kestrel she just deemed to ignore for the better part of the day unless she absolutely had to acknowledge her presence- usually when she was shooting fire at her. “I’d say Tsunami is a fair and kind dragonet.”

Glory gave him ‘the look’- which only Glory could achieve- and said, in a deadpan voice, “We are talking about the same Tsunami, right?” This time Webs does laugh, the sound echoing off the cave walls. 

“Stop making fun of Tsunami and go back to the main cave. I’ll go through some techniques with you. First I have to talk to Kestrel.” Glory nods and blends back into the grays of the cave walls, and Webs hears her footsteps slowly fade away. Sighing, Webs turned to yell at Kestrel for the fiftieth time about training Glory.

“You’re a small dragonet, Glory! Use that to your advantage! You can’t use an intimidation tactic because you’re a Rain- er, a dragonet, but you can make them underestimate you. So, what do you do?”

“Pretend to be a lazy Rainwing and then sic ‘em?” Glory asked sarcastically. 

“Basically. But don’t use that tone with me. It’s disrespectful,” Webs said. “Okay, what about multiple dragons?”

“Don’t fight unless I have to. If they approach me, ignore them. If they attack, attack back. Use my size to my advantage, yada yada yada,” Glory said.

“And what’re the rules to fighting?”

“Don’t fight to kill, and if you have to fight to kill make it quick. Never underestimate an opponent but let them underestimate you. If you have something that can help sway a fight in your favor, use it.” Glory ticked off the rules of fighting that Webs, Asha and Hvitur had drilled into them since they were old enough to understand what they were saying. Kestrel and Dune focused more on the fighting side of things, but the other guardians taught them to have a sense of justice and morals. 

“And the last rule? The rule you little dragonets have the most trouble with?” Webs asked patiently. Glory gave a long-suffering sigh.

“An eye for an eye and the world goes blind,” she said. Webs smiled at her warmly before catching himself and reconstructing his cold exterior. 

“Excellent. Now, go read to Peril for me, okay? I believe Starflight is busy with another one of his little projects.” Glory nodded and ran off to read to the dragonet she had long since adopted as a sister, even going as far as to joke about being ‘twins’ by making her scales the same vibrant golds as the blind Skywing’s. Glory was getting better and better at changing her scale colour at will and, if it weren’t for the more slim features of the Rainwing and Peril’s milk-coloured eyes, they really could pass off as siblings.

Webs flew up to the sleeping caves, where Hvitur was lying, stiff and straight as a bord, on the edge of the cave. He had a fond expression on his face as he watched the Rainwing patter out of the cave, calling for Peril. 

“They’re good dragonets,” he said with a smile in his voice.

“Of course they are,” Webs said jokingly. “We raised them.” Hvitur let out a bark of laughter before grimacing in pain and slumping slightly. “You think you’re going to be okay to give the dragonets their history lesson tomorrow? You know it’s their favorite time of the week.”

“If Asha comes back tonight with something for my pain, maybe. But she had a mission all the way in the Ice Kingdom, so tell the dragonets not to get their hopes up. I doubt she’ll come back in the next three days,” Hvitur said sadly. “I just wish I could go on missions with you all. Maybe then I could be doing something important besides lazing around up here and complaining about pain that, by all accounts, should have faded by now.”

“It’s alright, Hvitur. The dragonets understand. And so do the Talons. Besides, you are doing something useful. You’re making sure the dragonets don’t kill each other before they have to fulfill the prophecy.”

“Tell that to Kestrel,” he said.

“You don’t really care what Kestrel thinks, do you? She watches the dragonets as much as you do, and she can’t even go out on missions anymore without being taken in by a Skywing patrol,” Webs said. “So there. You’re both babysitters for the dragonets of destiny.” Hvitur rolls his eyes.

“They shouldn’t have to deal with these responsibilities. They’re far too young,” he said. “They should be able to enjoy their youth, not worry about who will be the next queen of the Sandwings. The most I had to worry about at their age was fighting with my brothers over some petty feud. They have the fate of an entire kingdom resting on their shoulders.”

“You’re right. It’s not fair at all. But if they’re being forced into this life, we might as well prepare them for it as best as we can.” 

“I suppose,” he said. “It’s late. You should put them to bed.”

“Right,” Webs said. “I’ll do that.” Webs walked towards the area of the cave where the dragonets were most likely to be found and was not disappointed. They were all there, Glory reading ‘The Lost Princess’ to Peril, Starflight scratching away at a scroll, and Tsunami, Clay and Sunny already asleep, Tsunami curled up on Clay’s back with the end of her tail curled over his eyes. Sunny was laying at Clay’s side, her tail wound around herself tightly, smiling slightly at whatever dreams were visiting her tonight.

“Alright, dragonets, it’s time for sleep,” Webs said in an intentionally detached voice. He may like Glory like she was his own, but the same couldn’t really be said for the other dragonets. 

Starflight nodded and carefully rolled up the scroll, taking ‘The Lost Princess’ from Glory and setting them with the other piles of scrolls. 

“Glory will have a nightmare. I would suggest chickens for lunch,” Starflight said. “Just a suggestion.” Starflight laid down beside Sunny, Sunny immediately latching herself onto his side and staying there. Starflight merely adjusted his wing so it was wrapped around her and fell into a deep sleep. Glory draped herself over all of the dragonets, her eyes drooping closed as she looked up at Webs.

“‘Night, Webs,” she said with a smile. 

“Goodnight, Glory,” Webs said, turning and walking back to his own sleeping cave stiffly. The Talons will kill her eventually. She is not your dragonet, nor is she Riptide. Get a hold of yourself! With that thought he slumped over tiredly, asleep within moments. It really was exhausting trying to take care of six dragonets.


	3. Flame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All rights go to Tui.

“You need to go faster, Clay! Don’t be a lazy Rainwing!” Kestrel shouted, shooting another column of flame. Clay couldn’t feel the flame, of course, but this exercise was more about agility and reflexes than anything else. “Roll! Go flat! Stop stumbling!” Jet after jet of blue tinted fire shot out at him, creating scorch marks on the stone walls. Clay could see the other dragonets looking at him with expressions varying from pity to outrage to outright terror. Sunny had her wings covering her eyes, Starflight was standing stock still, like he was hoping the ground would swallow him up- he was probably wondering if Kestrel would make everyone else do this particular exercise-, and Tsunami was glaring at Kestrel with a look that bordered on murderous.

The felt the flames tickle the spines on his back and stopped with a huff, wheezing and trying to catch his breath. 

“Why did you stop?! Do you really think you’re going to be able to stop to catch your breath in a battle?! You might be alright with fire, but what if an Icewing confronts you?! Or a Sandwing?! Do you want me to get Dune to demonstrate what his poison can do to your lazy Rainwing friend?!”

Clay coughed and stood up straight. Kestrel’s expression morphed into a sickly grin, a smile that could curdle milk.

“That’s more like it!” she shouts before shooting another jet of white-hot flame. Clay barely manages to roll away. He thought he could smell smoke, and it felt like he had inhaled liquid fire. His lungs were seizing as he coughed away. Kestrel scowled. “Up! GET UP!” Clay stood on shaking legs. His eyes were watering. There was another hissing sound, Kestrel preparing to shoot another bout of fire. He felt his lungs seize again but this time when he coughed, it was not a wheeze but a burst of purple flame, tickling his throat and shooting at Kestrel, who looked to be in shock. She moved out of the way just before the flames burnt her to a crisp, rolling away.

“I suppose I should’ve expected this, at your age,” she said, frowning. “Usually dragonets develop the ability to breathe fire at two. Sometimes later. I just expected your fire breathing abilities to be late and incompetent, just like the rest of you…. You have impressed me today, Mudwing. Don’t expect it to happen again.” Finally done terrorizing him for the day, she stalks away, disappearing to wherever she goes to in the cave when she wants to ignore the dragonets’ existence. Sunny immediately runs up to him and wraps her charcoal speckled wings around him, tucking her face against his leg. Clay couldn’t really tell who was being comforted, Sunny or himself, but her presence was nice so he didn’t question it.

“I’m fine, Dusky,” Clay said, using the affectionate nickname Asha had made for her long ago. Peril walks over and turns to him, looking at a distant point over his shoulder. 

“You shot fire. I saw the light. It was much brighter than Kestrel’s,” she observed. 

“I suppose so, though I can’t imagine why,” Clay said.

“Perhaps because you are the better dragon,” Peril said.

“Pear, we both know that’s not true. Kestrel could beat me in a fight any day. If anything, I’m the lousiest dragon in Pyrrhia,” Clay said.

“There is a difference between being weak and being honorable, Clay. Remember that,” Peril said, a wise glint in her pearl-like eyes.

“I’ll try to remember that, Peril. I will,” he said, wrapping a large wing around her shoulders and giving her a quick hug. 

Asha finally came back a day later. She brought green herbs with her, a piece of fruit, several pigs, a canister of mud to soothe Clay’s aching, trodden feet, and fresh parchment. Hvitur took the herbs gratefully, downing a small pinch in on gulp. After a few minutes he dragged himself out of the sleeping cave, leaning on Asha for support, and helped Clay put mud on his hind legs. If either of them noticed Starflight eyeing his tail curiously, as if he were measuring it, they didn’t say anything.

“So, what’s my favorite two year old Skywing dragonet named Peril been up to?” Asha asked. Peril tipped her head to the side in the adorable manner that only Peril did when she was confused. 

“But I’m your only two year old Skywing dragonet named Peril,” she said. “Is there another one I don’t know about?”

“No, you’re the only one,” she said with a laugh. “That’s why you’re my favorite.”

“Oh,” Peril said, before drifting off toward the sound of scratching parchment that was sure to lead to Starflight.

“I missed you, Auntie Asha,” Clay said. “Why do you always have to leave us? The other guardians are mean.” Hvitur looked scandalized.

“What about me? I’m not mean!” the Icewing protested. 

“Except for Uncle Hvitur,” Clay conceded. “He’s very nice. But Kestrel isn’t. She makes me dodge fire and yells at me if I trip. I shot fire yesterday, though! I didn’t like it very much. It made me cough a lot.” Clay always found himself rather chatty whenever Asha was around, as he felt she was the only other person he could talk to besides Sunny and Tsunami. But Sunny could never keep a secret, and Tsunami was always looking for some form of blackmail.

“Well, Kestrel is always going to be cranky. It’s kinda her thing,” Asha said. “So, you finally shot fire, huh?”

“Yeah! It was purple though. I didn’t know fire could be purple. And it made me cough a lot,” he said. 

“That’s normal. It’s because the fire is building up in your chest and you don’t know how to get it out. It’s normal to cough for a little bit. You’ll get used to it! Can you show me the fire now?” she asked.

“I think so...” he said. He took a deep breath and imagined the burning, constricting sensation he had felt the day before, like his lungs were stretching and contracting at the same time. He breathed out, but instead of the jet of hot, purple flame he had made before, this was little more than a sputter of fire. “It was much bigger yesterday… even Kestrel said she was impressed,” he hastened to defend himself. 

“It’s alright, little Mudwing. I suspect your fire was only as big as it was at the time because you were frightened. We’ll get there eventually,” she said kindly. 

“Auntie Asha,” Tsunami said. She had drifted over while Clay was trying to breath fire. “How did your mission go?” All of the dragonets seemed to perk up immediately. They always enjoyed hearing about Asha’s missions. Though they could not remember ever being outside the cave- though the guardians insisted they were born outside- Asha told the stories in such a way that they could almost imagine the miles of endless, rolling ocean, the snowy peaks of the Ice Kingdom, or the feel of wind under their wings. 

“Well,” Asha said. She looked over her shoulder dramatically, as if making sure no one was listening to her. The dragonets giggled. “I’m not really supposed to tell you the details of my mission, but since you’re such good dragonets I might as well...” The dragonets nodded eagerly. “I was in the Sandwing Kingdom,” she lied easily, throwing a wink at Hvitur, “trying to sway others to our cause. It was unbearably hot, and I couldn’t see any water for miles. The Sandwings were reluctant to listen to me, but they did eventually. I believe they were truly considering my offer. I suspect the Talons will have more members soon.” The dragonets smiled at each other.

“You swayed the Sandwings? Really?” Starflight asked.

“It was difficult, but yes. Now, go eat the pigs I brought you. I must speak to Hvitur.” The dragonets nodded and went back to the main cave where the pigs were running around. Clay, on the other hand, stayed at the entrance of the cave. He and Tsunami had learned long ago that the only way to get any real information was eavesdropping.

“So what really happened? How many?” Hvitur asked.

“Too many. You couldn’t step anywhere without touching a corpse. They’re all lying, back to back for miles. The carnage was unbelievable. Burn’s forces are being more ruthless than usual.” 

“Anyone we know?” Hvitur asked quietly.

“Hvitur, you know I can’t very well check the identities of every single Icewing, but… with so many dead… I expect so.” Hvitur sighed.

“I suppose if they weren’t already dead, it had to happen eventually. But...”

“I know. But you have to pull yourself together. You know Sunny will figure out something’s wrong, and we cannot let the dragonets know.”

“They’ll find out eventually. They’ll start to wonder why you have to talk to me alone after every story. You know they will. And if our suspicions about Sunny are true… it’s only a matter of time.”

“I know. But let them keep their innocence a little longer. They’re still dragonets. They don’t need to know about the dangers of the world around them.”

“You’re right. I just feel bad about lying to them.”

“I know,” Asha replied. They’re silent for several moments. “I suppose we should go see what the dragonets are doing.” Clay scrambled away and ran down to the main cave. 

‘Anything?’ Tsunami mouthed.

‘Later,’ Clay replied. Tsunami nodded and gestured to a pig who was running around in circles and squealing. Clay made quick work of the creature and ate it quickly. Asha and Hvitur walk into the main cave a moment later, Hvitur still leaning on Asha. Asha took it all in stride and never once complained, but Clay knew Hvitur was guilty about relying on Asha so much.

“Have you studied while I was away?” Asha asked, using her best teacher voice. Starflight begins to say something, but Asha cuts him off. “Yes, Star, I know you studied. I was asking the irresponsible ones.” Starflight looks slightly put out that he couldn’t brag about his studying but doesn’t say anything more. 

“Starflight read me all of the assigned scrolls. And Glory helped as well,” Peril said.

“I studied with Tsunami and Glory,” Clay said. 

“And Sunny?” Asha asked.

“Starflight helped me study! He’s a really good teacher! We learned all about the first war!” Sunny said cheerily. Starflight looked slightly sheepish. 

“Excellent. Now, where were we...” And with that, Asha and Hvitur launch into a lecture about the first war in Pyrrhia. 

“So what’s going on? What was her mission?” Tsunami asked quietly after all the other dragonets had fallen asleep.   
“She was in the Ice Kingdom. It… it wasn’t good,” he said. “There… A lot of dragons are dead. And Hvitur seems worried about someone he knows being one of the dead. It’s getting worse, Tsunami.”

“Okay. We knew this was coming, we knew it would get to these scales eventually. We’ll just train harder. We have to train harder.”

“I’m scared, Tsunami,” Clay said quietly. “I mean, we have to choose the next queen of the Sandwings… What if we choose wrong? What if we just make things worse?”

“I know you’re scared, Clay. I’m scared too. But we’ll get through this, and we’ll fight alongside whatever queen we choose.”

“We have to tell the others what we’ve learned. They can’t be prepared if they don’t know what’s going on,” Clay insisted. 

“I know that,” Tsunami said.

“Then why haven’t we told them?” he asked. Clay felt a sharp spike of anger, followed by a slight stretching feeling in his lungs. It wasn’t as bad as it was when he was fighting Kestrel, but it was still there. A stark reminder that he could really hurt someone now. 

“Uh… Clay, you’re kind of smoking...”

“Thanks…?”

“No, I mean there’s smoke coming out of your mouth! Calm down!” Tsunami said in a loud whisper, so as not to alert the other dragonets.

Clay focused on the feeling in his chest and willed it to recede, tramping it down whenever it flared up. 

“Is it gone?” he asked after a moment. 

“Yeah…. What was that, Clay? What happened?”

“I’m not… I’m not sure...” he said. Tsunami is quiet for a moment, but Clay can feel her tense up from where she and the others were piled on his back. 

“I’ll ask Asha tomorrow. You’re probably just tired and cranky. We’ll talk about this in the morning,” Tsunami said.

“Yeah. Okay,” Clay replied.  
“‘Night, Clay.”

“Goodnight, Tsunami.”


End file.
